Charlotte
by amandavg1
Summary: While exploring the pink palace, a girl named Charlotte, discovers a secret door. Her mother and father are very strict about the haunted legends and demand that Charlotte stays away from anything related to the haunted tales. Of course, Charlotte's curiosity gets to the best of her and finds out the legends are true! Will she survive the wrath of the Beldam and save her parents?
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

Coraline and Wybie are standing side by side holding hands as the minister closed his book and smiled at the two.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the minister announced. "You may kiss the bride."

Wybie gulped nervously as he put his hands on Coraline's arms, and stepped into her personal space. Coraline smiled and rolled her eyes, amused by his quirks, finding it quite sweet.

As Wybie leaned in slowly to kiss her, Coraline grew impatient. She put her hands on his cheeks and stepped in to kiss him instead. Everyone cheered and clapped from the chairs.

Coraline removed her hands from his cheeks and broke the kiss.

"You are a moron, Why-Were-You-Born," Coraline said quietly, holding his hands as he blushed. "But you're my moron."

"I-I wouldn't have it any other way."

Coraline also blushed as they locked hands and proceeded down the aisle.

 _ **...Several Years Later…**_

Charlotte got out of the backseat of the small sky blue convertible, staring at the pink apartments. She groaned annoyed as her parents emerged out from the car.

"This looks like an old retirement home," Charlotte said with an attitude as she kicked a rock.

Coraline sighed and rubbed her daughter's curly dark brown hair as she pouted and folded her arms. Charlotte is a mixture of both of her parents. She had the same physical features as her mother, and had the same color hair and skin tone as her father. Her eyes are also dark brown like her mother.

"I know this doesn't look like much, but trust me honey, it's a great place to live," Coraline explained as her daughter scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Your father and I grew up here. Your great grandma and her sister did as well. It's been in the family for generations."

"If it's _such_ a great place to live, why couldn't they at least do a paint job?" Charlotte snapped, stubbornly. "Hang up some curtains?"

"Renovations will happen, Charlotte," Wybie added in walking back to the trunk of the blue car and opened it to unload some boxes. "No one's been here for years, and it was bound to get a little rusty."

"Oh sure."

Coraline and Wybie glanced at each other and sighed.

Coraline put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently, "Why don't you go and explore the area? There's an old well that you might be interested in."

"An old well?" Charlotte asked facing her mother. "What am I going to do, throw a penny and make a wish?"

"Why not?" Wybie asked holding a few boxes in his hand. "It might be fun."

"Yeah, right," Charlotte said with an eye roll.

"Go on," Coraline said giving her a little nudge on the back. Charlotte took a deep breath, put her hands into her pants pockets and began to walk down the dirt path. She looked around and the scenery felt very unsettling and gloomy. She jumped down from the edge of a rock and continued down the path. A moment passed and she heard a low "meow" growl, and felt her heart rate beat faster from her chest. Charlotte looked around and didn't see anything.

"Hello?" Charlotte asked loudly. Silence. "Anybody there?"

She repeated her question even louder, "Hello?!"

Still no answer. She sighed and walked away, not thinking much of the growl she heard. Whatever it was must've left. Not a moment too soon, the sound was heard again, but this time it was like a scream. Charlotte gasped, and instantly stopped where she was and looked up in the tree on the left side of the path and saw a black figure rustling in the branches.

"Who's up there?" Charlotte asked, scared, picking up a rock off the path. The black figure sat in the large branch not moving a muscle.

Charlotte gulped, "Show yourself, or else I'll throw this rock, and I'm not afraid to do it!"

The black figure still sat in the tree, unmoved and hasn't made a peep. Charlotte gripped her hand on the rock and threw it up in the branch and it hit the animal. It screeched in pain. Charlotte screamed when it rustled through the tree to get down. She ran down the path for a while and slipped downhill in the mud. She groaned and slowly brought herself to her feet.

"Really?" Charlotte said to herself, wiping off the mud on her clothes as best as she could. "This really isn't my day."

Before Charlotte knew what was happening, two boys ran to her and shoved a camera in her hands. She got confused and looked up seeing a small boy with dark green hair, and pale skin wearing a light brown raincoat. The other boy standing next to him had pale skin and dark green hair as well bit with a dark brown raincoat. Charlotte figured these two boys were brothers due to the similarities between them.

A black cat jumped on the taller boy's shoulders. The cat was skinny, and had a flat face with short prickly fur.

"Hey kid, can you take pictures of us with this cat?" The smallest boy asked her. His voice sounded slightly high-pitched and judging from her first impression of the kid, he looked around ten years old.

"Um, ok," Charlotte said feeling slightly uncomfortable because they came off kind of strong. She took the pictures of the two boys making ridiculously weird poses with the cat, but to an extent, it was quite amusing so she chuckled a bit.

"Thanks um-" The older boy responded taking the camera back from her, and stood there awkwardly because he didn't know her name.

I'm Charlotte… Charlotte Lovat," She said introducing herself in a polite voice. "I just moved into the pink palace."

"The pink palace?" The Older boy asked with his eyebrows raised in mouth agape, surprised. "Is it true what they say about that place?"

"You mean the legends?" Charlotte asked with a slight chuckle folding her arms amused because this isn't the first time she'd been asked that very same question. Both boys nodded nervously. "No, the story of the evil spirit behind the secret door is just an old tale made up by children a long time ago because they thought the palace was haunted."

The boys looked at each other and took a deep breath in relief that the legends weren't true.

"Thank goodness," the youngest boy replied with a small smile.

"Oh this is my brother Larry, and I'm Wyvern," Wyvern introduced the new girl to him and his brother with a smile. The cat jumped from Wyvern's shoulders to Larry's.

"Pleased to meet you," Charlotte said before looking at the black cat who shook its head slowly at her. "Um, is this your cat?"

"Oh no, we found him wandering around our house, so we decided to feed and give him milk… and the cat's been with us ever since," Wyvern explained to Charlotte who looked at the cat suspiciously and tried to examine it further.

"Um, ok," Charlotte said snapping out of her strange thoughts and sudden uneasiness towards the skinny cat. "I'm looking for an old well. You two know where it is?"

"You're standing on it," Larry said pointing to the rocks placed in a circle around Charlotte. "If you jump too hard you'll fall right in."

Charlotte gasped scared and jumped backwards noticing the the circle of rocks. Wyvern bent over and lifted the trapdoor up as mud was rolling off it, revealing the wooden, round door.

"They say that the well is so deep, you won't be able to hear the splash," Wyvern explained standing up again.

Charlotte smiled and scoffed slightly, "Huh, really?"

Larry tapped Wyvern on the arm, "Wyvern?"

Wyvern leaned down to his brother's height and faced him.

"Should we tell her about the other story?" Larry asked as Wyvern stood back up and instantly shook his head nervously. Charlotte caught on and got very curious.

"No, we don't want to scare her!"

"You'd be surprised how easily I don't get scared," Charlotte said folding her arms with a smirk. The boys looked at each other and sighed. "Come on, what's the story?"

"Ok... don't say I didn't warn you," Wyvern said feeling quite scared as she rolled her eyes. "You know that evil spirit behind the secret door, you told us about?"

Charlotte nodded.

"Uh, they say that a child went to destroy the key to the secret door by throwing it down this well…" Wyvern began to explain as Charlotte tried to not give them the satisfaction that she was getting slightly creeped out. "And… she got attacked by a hand… made of needles… which was all that was left of the evil spirit… and um, tried to drag her back to the secret door to-"

Wyvern stopped talking and gulped nervously, debating whether or not he would be able to continue with the rest of the story. As he was retelling the story, he was scaring himself and his brother whose legs were shaking. Charlotte got impatient fast by tapping her foot. She just wanted Wyvern to get the story done and over with, not to keep her in suspense.

"To what?" Charlotte asked with impatience in her voice.

"Lock her away and eat her soul," Wyvern said quietly with uneasiness. Charlotte looked at both of the boys with wide eyes and jaw dropped open, surprised about how this story relates to the legend she heard about the pink palace. "She was saved by a boy who smashed a rock on the needle hand… and it broke. They say that the the two kids wrapped the key, needles and rock in a blanket and threw it down the well."

"W-wow…" Charlotte stammered unable to comprehend this story which she had to admit, was a pretty scary and creepy story. But, she thought that this couldn't just be a coincidence that this well story and the legend of the pink palace is very relatable. Were those two children the same two mentioned in the legend? A lot of unanswered questions entered her mind, but knew she wouldn't get help from her parents who strictly tell her to not get mixed up with these made up legends.

"Legend has it that the soul of the evil spirit is trapped inside the blanket, floating in the well until the end of time… but.. they say that the spirit can be set free by a child who makes a wish," Wyvern finished the story as he saw that Charlotte was unsettled and Larry looked like he was going to faint.

"So any kid who makes a wish can set the spirit free?" Charlotte asked along with a nervous laugh. "That's kind of stupid."

Larry shook his head and gulped, "No Charlie, it has to be a specific kid. The monster has marked it's revenge on the two children who have locked it away in the well. So, the monster is waiting for that kid to set it free."

"Oh…" Charlotte mutters under her breath, getting very uncomfortable about this whole conversation on the evil monster thing lurking around in an old well. They all sat in awkward silence as Charlotte glanced at the black cat who is on the ground, looking as if it's going to be sick.

"Um… I think your cat is not feeling well," Charlotte said breaking the silence, glancing at the black cat who shook its head slowly at her.

"Maybe it's hungry," Larry said picking it up in his arms. "See you around, Charlie."

As the two boys were running away towards the hill Charlotte got angry at the remark Larry made and yelled, "It's Charlotte!"

Wyvern and Larry were out of sight, and Charlotte looked down at the well. She sighed and got down on her hands and knees, and crawled over to it. Charlotte knocked on the wooden door and pressed her ear up against it, hearing the echo bounce back to her.

"There's no such thing as evil spirits… that's ridiculous," Charlotte said out loud trying to convince herself that these stories aren't real and it's just old tales to scare people. She grabbed a small pebble and took a deep breath as she dropped it down the burnt hole in the wood. She pressed her ear against the door and listened for a splash.

A moment passed and she heard a very faint splash. Charlotte smiled to herself and whispered, "I knew it wasn't real."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

Charlotte is in the kitchen putting her dishes away in the sink as Coraline is finishing her lunch at the table.

Charlotte sighed and turned around to face her mother, "Mom, is it ever going to stop raining?"

Coraline glanced out the kitchen window and it was pouring outside, with big puffy, grey clouds overhead. She shook her head slowly and went back to finishing lunch.

"I don't think so, honey," Coraline said getting up to put her dishes away in the sink as well. Charlotte sneered and walked over to the kitchen table.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Charlotte asked impatiently with an attitude as Coraline started to clean up the table in the centre of the room. "There's nothing to do in this old apartment. You and Dad are just acting like everything's all sunshine and rainbows."

"Look, I know you are upset about moving and I understand," Coraline replied firmly trying not to lose her temper against her daughter's attitude. "It's going to take time to get used to this new place. You just have to make the best of it for now."

Charlotte rolled her eyes as her mom went back to cleaning up the kitchen.

"I'm bored," Charlotte whined as Coraline groaned losing her patience.

"Then why don't you go unpack some boxes?" Coraline said through gritted teeth. She is finding it harder to keep calm and relaxed because Charlotte is making things very difficult for her by complaining and whining. "It'll help pass the time."

"Yay, that sounds like fun," Charlotte said sarcastically as she folded her arms and scoffed rudely, facing away from her mother.

Coraline sighed as she walked over to the counter and grabbed a package. She turned around and handed her daughter the package.

"Two kids left this for you," Coraline said with a deep breath, keeping calm. Charlotte looked at the package confused and glanced up at her mother.

"It must be from those two weird neighbors I met," Charlotte explained to her mother as she stopped cleaning the counter and faced Charlotte suddenly interested. "And their skinny black cat. We had the most awkward conversation ever."

Coraline swallowed hard and spoke nervously having a pretty clear idea of where this was headed.

"What did you all talk about?"

"Um… tales and legends," Charlotte replied under her breath looking down at her package, scared of her mother's reaction. "They told me a legend about the old well… I'm way too old to believe those haunted tales."

"Charlotte, you know how your father and I feel about you getting involved with these stories," Coraline finally said in a rather harsh tone after a moment of silence. Her tone was harsh, yet there was a hint of nervousness in her voice. Charlotte instantly nodded and gulped, seeing the expression her mother was giving her, and the scolding was more intense than she thought it was going to be. "We have told you time and time again, stay away from those stories."

"But why?" Charlotte asked trying to stay strong and challenge her mother. "I know the legends aren't true."

Coraline felt a wave of guilt and unpleasant memories hit her from her childhood. All Wybie and her want to is protect her from any possible danger still lurking around this area, even after all those years living away from the Pink Palace. She doesn't want Charlotte to start believing those legends because they are very much true, and go investigate the trap door, the well, or anywhere in the general area. The very last thing Coraline wanted is for her daughter to go through the same things she did as a child, and find out the truth about her and Wybie's pasts.

"Because we said so," Coraline snapped at her daughter before realizing she was being rather harsh. She took a deep breath to relieve some of the stress she developed. Coraline continued in a more soothing tone so Charlotte wouldn't be as nervous as she appeared to. "It's for your own good. Just trust us on this Charlotte… ok?"

Charlotte slowly nodded and smiled small to make her mother feel better.

"Ok."

"Now, why don't you go explore the apartment… and go see what Dad is up to," Coraline said with a smile before going back to work by turning around and wiping down the counter.

Charlotte sighed and walked out of the kitchen as she unwrapped her package. A doll was revealed to her resembling her exactly. The same brown curly hair, coat, shoes, face, everything. She gasped shocked, feeling a wave of uneasiness as she ran her hand over the doll. She gulped as she traced her fingers around the black, buttoned eyes.

"Huh, a little me?" Charlotte mutters to herself as she walked into the main entrance hall with the stairs and the long old carpet along the wooden flooring. "That's… creepy."

* * *

The camera quickly zooms outside the front door from the hallway Charlotte is in. We follow the camera quickly down the dirt path, past bushes and branches. A quick glimpse of the stray, skinny black cat in a tree is revealed for a second. The cat screeches in anger as we pass it. The camera goes down the muddy hill Charlotte slipped on. We see the mudslide she made.

Up ahead is the old well and the lid is shaking up and down as if something was trying to break free. A neon green glow is revealed underneath the wooden lid. The ground began to shake uncontrollably like a small earthquake. Rocks and pebbles bounced, sticks rolled across the ground, and the animals scurried off, scared.

After a moment, the ground stopped moving. The green glow faintly disappeared, and the wooden lid is barely off the well. A few rusty, old needles appeared from inside the well. The needles moved as if it had eyes at the end of the points, looking around for something. Then, the needles found their way into the surface of the dirt, and dug in deep, trailing a track of lines.

We then hear faint deep, crackled laughs from what it sounds like, a old woman. It echoed off the inside of the well walls.


	3. Chapter 3

Back at the house, Charlotte wandered around to one of the rooms downstairs, to what it seemed to be a storage room. Her father is standing on some boxes trying to hang up a painted picture of a waterfall.

Charlotte rolled her eyes because her father doesn't have exactly the bright ideas. The boxes he was standing on is wobbling back and forth, and Wybie is balancing on one foot so he can reach as close to the nail in the wall as possible.

Charlotte let out a breath, holding her look alike doll in her right hand, glancing around the room. It was like the rest of the rooms downstairs. Boxes everywhere, old rusty floors. The wallpaper is peeling off the walls and dust is noticeable on the windows and floating through the air.

"Hi Dad," Charlotte announced unexpectedly.

"Hi honey," Wybie replied, not really paying attention to his daughter. He was too busy trying to hang the picture on the wall. When he eventually got the picture hung on the nail, he slipped and fell off the boxes onto the floor. The boxes opened and items fell out, creating a huge noise.

"Are you alright, Dad?" Charlotte asked concerned, running over to help her father to his feet. "Gee, I hope nothing's broken."

"Oh no, I'm fine, Charlotte," Wybie said with a small smile, dusting himself off with both of his hands. Afterwards, he turned to face his daughter who had a doll in her hand that he never seen before. He doesn't remember Charlotte having a doll in her possession after giving the rest of them away to charity.

"Where'd you get that doll?" Wybie asked worried about what her answer might be.

Charlotte looked down at the doll in her hand and shrugged her shoulders, "Oh, the neighbours gave it to me." Charlotte scoffed and rolled her eyes pretending that she didn't care in the least about the doll. "I'm way too old for dolls."

"And that's why we gave the others away to charity," Wybie replied picking up the boxes he knocked over onto the floor.

Charlotte rolled her eyes and lifted a box with her free hand and set it down right side up. Wybie squatted down to pick up the valuable items on the floor. He looked up at his daughter and sighed in empathy for her. He knows what it's like to feel like an only child, bored out of your mind.

"Charlotte, you know this house has been in the family for generations," Wybie said trying to sound excited to make Charlotte interested. But it clearly didn't work.

Charlotte huffed, "So?"

"So, explore it," Wybie said continuing to pick up their items on the creaky, wooden floor. "You might find something you like about this house."

"I doubt it," Charlotte replied with an snarky attitude, grasping onto the doll in her hand.

"Go on."

Wybie gave her a light shove on her lower back towards the opened door. Charlotte huffed annoyed and walked out of the room. She walked down the main hall onto the old, dusty red carpet underneath the creaky, wooden floor. She saw a lump on the carpet, so she jumped on it creating two lumps. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

She walked up the wooden stairs that creak every time she made a movement. It was really annoying. Charlotte reached the top of the stairs and looked in the bathroom first. It was disgusting. She dragged her finger tip across the countertop and looked at it. A dark grey spot was left on her finger.

"Gross," muttered to herself. She looked up at the mirror and couldn't see her own reflection. She rubbed the mirror with her hand in circles and then saw herself in complete depression of having to move in the middle of nowhere. Frowning, she lifted the doll up next to her and huffed. "Alright, now I think Mom and Dad lost their minds."

Charlotte left the bathroom and walked down the hall to another room. She saw a rusty old bed, that looked as if it's been sitting there for decades without moving a muscle. She saw a small chest at the foot of the bed and a bookshelf up against the wall in the left corner. There was also three windows and a place to sit.

"I guess this is my room," Charlotte muttered to herself and sat by the windows with the doll still in her hand. She turned her head to see that it was still raining hard. "Urgh."

She walked out of the room and checked out all of the others. They were all dusty and full of cobwebs and bugs. There wasn't very clean air in this place. The paint and wallpaper were peeling off the walls. Broken furniture and rusty old floors. It looked like an old haunted house, in Charlotte's mind.

Charlotte groaned and walked down the stairs into the living room. A fireplace and a couch was in the room. The fabric seemed to be falling apart on the couch, and saw some holes with white stuffing. She looked up and saw a painting of a boy in a raincoat, seemingly depressed, holding an ice cream cone. It was hung over the fireplace.

"That is one unhappy kid," Charlotte says, and walks over to the painting. "You aren't the only kid who is depressed."

Charlotte looked around the room and saw boxes scattered amongst the wooden floor. Then she noticed something on the wall. It was shaped like a small square. It wasn't a painting or picture, because it was the same color as the wallpaper. Her curiosity rose, and walked over to the square in the wall. Dropping down to her knees, she placed the doll next to her on the floor.

Charlotte examined the square in the wall for a moment. She couldn't identify what it was. She placed her hands on the inside of the square and gently pushed it. She heard a sound like it was a door creaking open. It must be some sort of trap door or closet.

"Huh, but why would…" Charlotte started in conclusion but then realized what it was. A chill crawled down her spine as she gulped nervously, staring at the mini door. She didn't know what to think or what to do at this point. Everything in her mind drew to a blank. Thinking about her discussions with her neighbors down by the well in the ground, made her start to question her beliefs on the legends. Is it really true? "Oh…"

Charlotte didn't think that there even was a trap door, and that the two children made that up as well to get attention. Were those two children telling the truth about the legends? Is there really such things as monsters and other worlds besides Earth itself? Charlotte got lost in her thoughts, but snapped out of them when the turned her head and found the doll gone. It wasn't where she left it.

"What?" Charlotte asked herself, getting scared. She scanned the room and didn't see it anywhere. She's positive that she placed the doll right next to her. It can't just disappear into thin air. As she started thinking about the haunted tales, and about this old palace, maybe the doll can just disappear.

Charlotte stood up and looked over at the doorway, finding the doll on the floor as if it was looking in with those two buttoned eyes.

"Alright, how did you just do that?" Charlotte says nervously as she walked towards the doll, afraid that it might do something if she tried to pick it up.

Coraline walked down the hall and saw her daughter bending over to pick up her doll from the neighbors.

"How's everything going, sweetie?" Coraline asked, seeing worry in her daughter's facial expression. This caused a great deal of concern and anxiety, never seen Charlotte this tense before. She placed a hand on Charlotte's shoulder and squeezed gently, watching her examining the doll in her hands. "Is something wrong?"

Charlotte was quick to reply in a choked up tone, trying to cover up her increasing anxiety over what just happened.

"No… nothings wrong," Charlotte says, still looking at the doll with a mixture of horror and confusion. She faced her mother and forced the best convincing smile she could do. She didn't want to upset or worry her mother, and if she told her anything… she would just get mad. "I'm good."

"You sure now?" Coraline asked, seeing right through this cover up. Now she knows something is definitely wrong. Charlotte never gets over her anger tantrums that quickly. She would usually rage on and on, making scenes to get attention by moping around and purposely making excuses to get reactions. She doesn't just snap out of it within the hour. That is rare for her personality. Now Coraline is really concerned for her daughter's sudden change in behavior.

Charlotte nodded to try and satisfy her mother enough that she won't question her. She hate to tell the truth and get dumped on again. Those are never fun.

"Yeah."

"Ok… now come help me set the table for lunch," Coraline says letting this go for now. She didn't have the time to figure out what's going on. "Your grandparents are dropping your brother off at one."

"You go ahead, Mom," Charlotte says, trying to sound cheerful. "I'll be there in a second."

"Don't be too long," Coraline replied as Charlotte nods with a small smile. She turned around and walked down the hall to the kitchen to finish preparing lunch.

Charlotte waited until her mother was out of sight before running back into the living rook and shoved the doll into one of the empty boxes and repatched the tape to seal it shut. She refused to be around a disappearing doll, while the palace is already weird enough.

She glanced at the trapped door and sighed before leaving to the kitchen to help her mother with lunch. The camera zooms in on the trap door. The outer doorway glowed a faint yellow and the wallpaper began to slowly peel off.


End file.
